Lawrence de Penly
LAWRENCE DE PENLY of Clan Ventrue Noble Ventrue scholar and less-noble theologist ("Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s") Circle of Mastery '''History:' Lawrence/Laurent was the second-born son of the small, but proud Penly noble family with fiefs close to the Welsh border (near Hereford). In order to preserve the unity of the family estates, Lawrence was placed into a small local convent of Benedictine Monks, St. Daniels in the Hills, destined for a career in the clergy against his convictions and nature. However, after a harsh upbringing by a choleric father and a brutal and primitive elder brother , Lawrence was accustomed to get what he wanted by wiles and deceipt and thus decided to take all the good of a clergy life (essentially, potential access to enormous wealth and power) while avoiding the bad (humility and - most unconveniently - chastity) and thus threw all his energy into the task of starting a career in the church. Soon he had secured himself in a position of favour of the old, gentle and naive abbot of St. Daniels, who gratefully confided all the cares of the mundane goods of the monastery to the bright and world-wise Lawrence, making him in end Prior of St. Daniels at the age of 20. Lawrence lost no time to jumpstart the financial situation of the monastery, filling the monastery's and his own coffers. During a diplomatic mission to the Bishop of Hereford, the powerful Hugh Foliot (mainly aimed to convince his grace that the last will naming the monastery of St. Daniels sole beneficiary after the later Sir and Lady de la Porte, vassals of the bishoprice of Hereford, was indeed a valid bequest by this pious couple and a well-liked one by God, and not, as some infames tongues dare to insinuate, a ruse to disguise a great and heinous debt of usury incurred by the late naive old knight and his lady with the Prior of St. Daniels), Lawrence became acquainted with Gabrielle de Voliot, the love his life and jealously guarded niece (some say, daughter) of Hugh Voliot. Gabrielle, a strong-headed, fiery woman lived at the court of her uncle and waited to be betrothed to the highest bidder around - Lawrence own and detested brother Guillaume. Lawrence lost no time to prolong his stay at the bishop's court and to secure himself, through his social graces and wise advice, a place of high favour with this powerful man. Lawrence brother, delighted to see his brother having the ear of the Bishop, supported his sibling's manouvres in any aspect in order to swiften the negotiations for the marriage of the bishop's niece. Strangely, despite Lawrence manifest efforts, due to a series of strange delays, it took almost a year for for the marriage negotations between Guillaume/William de Penly and Gabrielle de Voliot to bear fruit - Gabrielle got pregnant - and this not from the Holy Spirit. During this time, Gabrielle and Lawrence had a turbulent and passionated liason. None of them should forget this love for the rest of their lives, and even beyond... Guillaume even encouraged his brother to seek out the company of Gabrielle de Voliot and press her for pleading her doting uncle to accede to the older de Penly's entreatments for marriage. A request that his brother consented to very willingly, all while in secret hoarding money in order to build up a new life and preparing to escape with Gabrielle to France, here to start a new life and to gain dissolution from his monk's oaths. However, the secret affair came to light and Lawrence had to flee from both the enraged Bishop and his own brother. Nevertheless harboured by his abbot in a small hermitage of the monastery, Lawrence spent some months in hiding before regaining Hereford in disguise in order to seek out Gabrielle and elope with her. Gabrielle's confidente, her chamber-maid directed him to a lonely manor, where Gabrielle, pregnant by her lover, had been supposedly imprisoned. However, the apparent refuge turned out to be a trap and the confidente to be bribed and pressured into betraying the lover. At the manor, Lawrence was assaulted by Guillaume and cut down by his battle-hardended brother. For dead, Lawrence body was flung into the river flowing beyond the manour to be carried from his dreams of love and life to the dark shores of the underworld. Later, Lawrence found out that Gabrielle had died in child-birth, Hugh Voliot mad with rage swearing upon the bible and the his sould to avenge his niece's death. In the last half year he has established himself as a discreet scholary guest Jeffrey Le Pense. He is known to act as a scribe and advisor to Thomas Lundquist and for apparently being a very devout man, as he spends most of his days kneeling in prayer and meditation in a small secluded side chapel of St.Gilmore church, where some churchgoes remember him lost in devotion during the daylight hours (helped in this, of course, by powerful hypnotic suggestions implanted by Lawrence). Clan: Ventrue Sire: Datura Generation: 7th Nature: Cavalier Demeanor: Plotter Apparent Age: late 20ies; Lawrence is medium build man with long dark hair, an easy, sardonic smile, big astonishingly white teeth and large blue eyes. He usually dresses up in dark and in a mundane manner and passes himself of as a clerk of the lower orders, going by the name of Paul of Marwingham( he has letters of recommendation from both the abbot of St. Daniels and his sire's retainer to beef up his assumed identity). He speaks usually with a low and precise voice, coming across as a considerate and humble man while at the same time disposing of born noble bearing with tendency for sarcasme. Nonetheless, his demeanour sometimes resembles to an astute observers as that of a cat observing a mouse, "somehow hungry and menacing" which makes most people somewhat ill at ease when they first meet Lawrence. After a while, however, they are usually taken over by his friendly disposition. Date of Birth: 1169 First Drink: 1193 Embraced: 1196 Physical: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 Social: Charisma 3, Manipulation 4, Appearance 3 Mental: Perception 2, Intelligence 4, Wits 3 Talents: Alertness 1, Acting 3, Empathy 2, Expression 2, Intimitation 1, Leadership 3, Subterfuge 4 Skills: Haggling 2, Etiquette 3, Melee 1, Ride 2, Brawl 1 Knowledges: Academics 1, Linguistics 2 (French*,AngloSaxon,Latin), Politcs 3, Seneschal 3, Theology 1 Disciplines: Dominate 3, Presence 2 Backgrounds: Generation (7th) 5, Ressources 1 , Herd 1 Virtues: Conscience 3, Self-Control 4, Courage 4 Road of Humanity: 7 :Aura of ''(-1 diff on according rolls) Willpower: 8 Permanent Bloodpool: 20 Temporary Bloodpool: 20 (full ?) Weakness: Feeding Restriction on women who look very like Gabrielle de Foliot, a lost love of Lawrence, Enemy (Hugh Foliot, the powerful bishop of Hereford, uncle of Gabrielle de Foliot), Deep Sleeper, Blood Bound to Datura EXPERIENCE: 5 Category:Circle of Mastery